17 Jul 2020

Diversity Lens - Issue 35

Diversity Lens - Issue 133 Diversity Lens - Issue 132 Diversity Lens - Issue 131

Jul 17

Diversity Lens - Issue 35

Diversity Lens

In a rush? This week's stories spotlight the older LGBTQ+ community, a brilliant new documentary on trans visibility, and a Black medical student making waves in his field. We hear firsthand experiences from homeless people, Black architects, and one female CEO with a story. Scroll down to read more diverse news from this week, and as usual, our featured jobs.

Latest News

Lived Experience: Delphine Diallo's powerful portraits of LGBTQ+ people aged over 50
Photographer and visual artist Delphine Diallo spotlights LGBTQ+ people over the age of 50 in her photo series, aiming to bring more visibility to this portion of the community. 60 powerful portraits come with interviews conducted by Delphine; she wants to honour their lived experiences, the tragedy and triumph they have known. See the photos by clicking below.

Read time: 2 minutes

'People say we don’t exist': the scandal of excluded black architects
Southwark council have given architecture firms the chance to compete for 100m in funding for a new project. It was advertised as an inclusive opportunity for emerging talent, yet of the 110 firms selected by the council as runners, none are led by a Black architect. In a borough in which over a quarter identify as Black the results seem shocking, yet one Black architect who applied describes the outcome as "entirely predictable", pointing to "unconscious bias ingrained into the system". Read more by clicking the photo below.

Read time: 10 minutes

‘Lack of teaching in darker skin’ prompts Black medical student to create handbook addressing bias
The recent pandemic has revealed the extra obstacles that BAME people face when accessing health care. Among these barriers, there is clear lack of knowledge and resources when it comes to identifying and treating medical conditions that affect black and brown skin. White skin is taken as the standard in textbooks and reference books, putting Black people at a clear disadvantage in the quality of health care they receive. Malone Mukwende, a medical student in London, wanted to rectify this "white skin bias" and created Mind the Gap, a handbook that educates health care providers on how physical symptoms can manifest on darker skin tones. Read the full article, click the image below.

Read time: 3 minutes

Diversity and Inclusion Insights

Half of BAME staff feel obliged to hide their personalities, survey finds
A study which surveyed 2000 UK workers found that a larger proportion of BAME individuals felt they needed to mask parts of their identity at work, compared to their white counterparts. The study concluded that there is pressure to conform to cultures that expected workers to "act white". It is clear that more work needs to go into making workplaces more inclusive environments where people from different backgrounds feel safe and encouraged to be their authentic selves. Read more findings from the study by clicking the graphic below.

Read time: 4 minutes

Reflections on Being a Female Founder
Tracy Young co-founded PlanGrid, construction productivity software, in 2011. In this blog post, she talks about her experience of being a female founder. She describes how she used to feel it unnecessary to make a point of her being not just a startup founder, but a female one: "The female part of my identity was hidden under plain masculine clothes and behind a stoic demeanor", she explains. Tracy divorced her identity as a woman from her identity as a serious business person, and could not reconcile them in her mind. Tracy takes us through her painful experience of balancing being a good leader, a good mother and good partner.

Read time: 8 minutes

Story of the Week

Why I Made Disclosure | The Story Behind The Netflix Documentary
Since 2015, the visibility of trans people in the mainstream media has been on a sharp incline. Disclosure came to Netflix last month; a documentary recounting transgender depictions on screen throughout history. There is a common misconception that trans experiences have not been a part of our collective history, yet in this program we hear from a myriad of trans voices: actors, directors, historians and thinkers who establish the long history of trans representation, good and bad. Watch now on Netflix.

It presents an opportunity for audience members to have their hearts and minds changed

Featured Video

In this BBC 3 video, we hear from people who are currently or have once been homeless. They discuss the common misconceptions and stereotypes that people have towards homeless people. Many uncontrollable factors can cause an individual to find themselves without a home, as a passerby it is not your place to make hurtful assumptions but to empathise, and to help if you can.

"You’re either labelled a “crackhead" or completely ignored by people pretending not to see you."

Inspirational Person of the Week

Caitlin Benedict
In honour of International Non-binary Week, we celebrate Caitlin Benedict, Radio producer and presenter of NB: My non-binary life on BBC Sounds. 'NB' offers a first-person account of what living as a non-binary person feels like. The podcast with co-host Amrou al-Kadhi explores what it means to be non-binary from a firsthand perspective. Benedict and Kadhi discuss their own battles with gender conformity in an educational, honest and often joyful way. “I refer to Amrou as them, rather than he or she. If you’ve not met anyone who uses gender neutral pronouns before, you’ll get used to it,” says Caitlin, and of course you do. Listen to the podcast now by clicking the photo below.